


Homecoming

by moodiful819



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 04:58:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3368708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moodiful819/pseuds/moodiful819
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To her surprise, she still found it in her to cry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Return](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/98621) by Kakasaku Anonymous. 



Not for the first time that day, Sakura felt like screaming. 

It was understandable. Ever since the announcement, people had been checking up on her everyday, knocking at all hours of the day and calling at all hours of the night to make sure she was still eating, still functioning, _still alive_. It was annoying and infuriating; she just wanted to be left alone, so it was understandable she would want to scream.

However, this was a different kind of scream.

It wasn’t the one she unleashed in Tsunade’s office after the shock wore off. After it was apparent it wasn’t a joke.

It wasn’t the frustrated one she had unleashed as she tore a training ground into its basest parts that would require months to reconstruct.

It wasn’t the one she unleashed in their bedroom either, a grief-stricken sound let loose in a flow amongst a blanket of feathers and a closely-wrapped circle of photos, more a sobbing moan than a scream.

She had slept like that, in a nest of spoilt pillows and old memories, long after her voice had given out and screaming was no longer an option. Sobbing wasn’t one either. She had cried out all the water in her body, and she could barely choke down the water from the sink long enough to  rehydrate. 

But that was yesterday. Her voice was back today, along with a headache from her lack of fluids and a stack of forms she had to fill out before she could claim his benefits. (As if she wanted them. As if it weren’t enough of a twist in her gut that he was gone.)

But the  _tap-tap-tap_  was still pressing at the door and her temples. Angrily, she tore the still-pinned black crepe from her head and stormed towards the door.

“Naruto, I told you to stop asking at the funeral. I am—”

Only to stop her tirade halfway as her eyes met not an anxious, stubborn blonde teammate, but her exceedingly disheveled, confused, ** _not-dead_**  boyfriend.

Hand still paused in the air, he blinked. “My mission took longer than expected,” he ventured quietly, half-sheepish. Taking a look around at the somber air of the neighborhood, he asked, “Did someone die while I was away?”

She blinked, incredulous—how could he not know who this was all for?—but the relief outweighed it by miles. Rather than answer him, she threw her into his arms instead, knocking him back two steps before he managed to catch her. His breath flew out in a little “Oof!” that she would remember for days.

They stood there in silence. Wrapped in his arms there on the doorstep, he had expected her to say something and waited patiently for the words. When they never came, receiving instead the soft trembles of her frame that seemed much smaller than when he had left, he tucked her tighter against him.

 _“I’m sorry I’m late,”_  he told her, regret coloring his tone.

In his arms, she shook her head against his chest, burrowing further into his vest. It was fine, she said wordlessly, both to herself and him. It didn’t really matter anyway. When he was right there standing, breathing, holding her and doing all the things she’d never thought he’d do again, she couldn’t care less about his tardiness, and she shook with her joy that she wouldn’t have to.

Besides, she thought to herself, she should have known he would’ve been late to his own funeral. Suddenly, wryly, she choked out a sound.

To her surprise, she still found it in her to cry.


End file.
